Freescale Tech Lab: Photo Collage

GRAPEVINE, Texas — The Freescale Technology Forum (FTF), the showcase of all things Freescale, started yesterday at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center near Dallas.

The company announced on Tuesday that it is expanding the Kinetis K microcontroller family and the software and service that goes with it. It's designed to help users "create robust, highly functional prototypes in less than 24 hours," says a press release. That's a telling statement.

Walking around Freescales' Technology Lab at FTF -- a sort of expo floor of companies using Freescale products -- you see the start of the 24-hour theme in the wearables, home automation, and IoT department, but mostly it's still: "Rome was not built in a day -- but we're trying to make it easier."

Here's a slideshow of some of the technology demos, STEM education projects, and general technology eye candy from FTF 2014.